Cold Tea and Revenge
by thatcrazypixie
Summary: Sometimes the most dangerous thing one can do is to fool themselves into thinking they've achieved a comfortable and normal life in a world that is neither normal nor comfortable. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine are finding this out first hand as devastating news of an up-and-coming villain threatens to tear down their freshly rebuilt society.
1. The Letters

**A/N : The beginning letter from Dudley is from a prompt on Tumblr. I did not come up with it and will not take any credit for it. This is also my very first fanfic so any and all feedback would be extremely helpful. Thank you. **

Dear Harry,

My daughter got a Hogwarts letter today. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I just felt the need to apologize for putting you through seventeen years of hell. If my daughter grows up to be like you I will be the proudest father in the world.

Sincerely,

Dudley.

Harry folded the letter and tucked it into his shirt pocket, patting it warmly and smiling. "Are you crying?" Ginny asked softly, circling her arms around his waist.

"No, not yet at least. It's just touching is all," Harry said digging the paper out and handing it to her. As she read it her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes crinkled the tell-tale signs of a smile. "Oh that'll be a treat for Petunia and Vernon to find."

"I hadn't even thought of how they'd react!" Harry gasped and blinked away the joyful tears that had come to his eyes from the touching apology. "Why, Petunia will flee the country, you know she will."

"I sure hope you're right, I've had my eye on that house for quite a while now."

"That house? The very house I was practically enslaved for half of my childhood? That's the one you want to raise our kids in?"

"Exactly Harry, I want to RAISE them there. Not enslave them."

"We both know if we raise our kids in that house I'll tell many more stories about the past than is necessary."

"Which is exactly why we're doing it, our kids need to know what happened. All of it. They need to know about Fred, and Hagrid, and Snape and Dobby. They need to know who they were and why they're gone. And why we're not gone with them."

"Why we're not gone with them..." Harry whispered.

"Because of you of course, Harry!"

"It's not just because of me of course, it's because of everyone. Everyone who was willing to fight. I mean, think about Neville. He was the hero of that battle; I don't care what anyone says. Even when I was dead he was willing to fight Voldemort. He knew it wasn't over even when everyone else thought it was. "

"Exactly, Harry. Stuff exactly like that. I want you to explain everything to our children because god-knows their history books aren't going to cover much of it."

Wizards, though exceedingly brilliant at wizardry, oftentimes have difficulties agreeing on how things happened, which can make official history very tedious to record.

"And I will tell them those stories, regardless of where we're at or whose listening. But kids are in the future, for tonight I think it's far past time we've seen Hagrid," Harry said pulling out his wand.

"Oh very well, Hagrid it is then. Is it alright if I invite Hermoine and Ron? She says they've had some difficulty finding things to do since there's no reason to be heroes anymore."

"Of course! I miss the two of them as well. Why, I've got an idea. Why don't you send a message out to the class? We'll have a meet up at the Leaky Cauldron, see what everyone's up to and all that."

Ginny loved the idea, just as she loved all of Harry's other ideas. She sat down at the wooden table in the kitchen of the Burrow, pulled out a piece of patterned parchment, and a feathered pen, and wrote in beautiful calligraphy, a simple invitation. With a wave of her wand it doubled, then tripled, and then sixty letters sat on the table, all packaged up and ready to go.

"They're ready, love," Ginny said.

With a wave of Harry's wand, they were enchanted and slowly flew off the table and out the open window, each with a different target.

Quite suddenly, there was a commotion within the fireplace. "A-A-ACHOO!" a great sneeze roared throughout the house.

Harry and Ginny exchanged a look before running into the family room. "Hagrid!" They both exclaimed.

Hagrid towered within the family room and beamed. It was so wonderful for him to see two of his favorite students from old standing there married. There was soot in his beard from the fire, and a bandage around his arm.

"What happened there, Hagrid?" Ginny said pointing.

"Awh, tis nothing but a scratch from the new surprise I have for me class," Hagrid said blowing it off as he did most any animal inflicted wound. As the Care of Magical creature's professor at Hogwarts, he was used to getting into a few scrapes here and there. He found it more than worth it because he loved the animals he cared for, even, or might I say especially, the monsters.

"How are you still finding creatures to surprise that class with?" Harry asked, "I thought you showed us everything."

"Well I certainly tried," Hagrid laughed, "but there are too many creatures out there to ever meet all of them."

"Well at least you can try," Harry smiled warmly, "I'd invite you to sit down, but I've just invited everyone from the old class out to the Leaky Cauldron. We'd best be going unless we want to be late to our own party."

"Yer throwin' a party and didn't invite me?" Hagrid asked, pretending to be hurt.

"of course you were invited Hagrid, we sent you a letter actually but we figured you were already on your way here."

"And just how did you both know somethin' like that?"

"Well I would say it was a hunch, but that would only work if this owl's name was Hunch," Ginny said nodding towards the Owl that had minutes before delivered a letter that stated very clearly Hagrid was on his way.

"Oi, right," Hagrid said turning his head to scratch his neck so they couldn't see him blush and smile sheepishly. "Forgot about that."

"Right well, if that's all clear then…Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked.

"Let's go," Ginny agreed.

With that they all nodded at each other and apparated. Seconds later there they were standing in the leaky cauldron. Surrounded by Ron and Hermoine and Seamus and Cho and Neville and Luna, even students they no longer recognized or had never known. Everyone was there.

"We made it!" Ron suddenly screamed, and everyone laughed and cheered and started asking each other whether he meant from the battle or completing school and no one cared. Because in those moments, they were reconnected with all of their best friends, and that was good enough.

"You know," Luna said quietly to Hermoine and Ginny, "everyone is acting like there's no longer bad or evil in the world. I'm very glad we're free of Voldemort forever, but I fear that we are getting too comfortable. Evil still exists, it is out there, and it is angry."

The pub roared on with the chatter of former students and the bartenders very confused with the sudden party, and the few regulars sitting in their booths and grumbling about the noise, but for Ginny and Hermoine everything went very quiet.

"I hope you're both having lovely times with your husbands by the way, there's a new pond that's formed out south a ways from here if you like things like that. I'd be careful about what lives in it but it's quite a beautiful place…" Luna kept going but Hermoine and Ginny had stopped listening.

After she had finally walked away to go talk to Hagrid about animals, Hermoine said, "what on earth could she possibly mean by that?"

"I don't know, if it's about the creatures living in the pond we can imagine that they probably don't exist. But if it's about evil being out there and angry, I'm not sure, and I'm a bit frightened."

"She said it so definitely, like she knew it for a fact."

"She says everything as if it's a fact, doesn't she?"

"No, not like that. She says things quietly, she said that firmly. And it was terrifying."

"Should we talk to the boys about it?"

"Of course, let's find a booth."

After they had called the boys over, they sank into a booth at the back of the room away from the party and Harry took his wand out.

"Hey you!" One of the bartender's shouted pointing directly at him, "can't ya read the signs? No enchantments in here. I run a 'spectable business I do, and I won't have even the likes of 'Arry potter ignorin' that!"

"Oh I'm sorry, Sir." Harry said putting his wand away and biting his lip to keep from retorting.

"Damn right, ya are."

"It's not like I knew," Harry whispered to everyone at the table and they laughed,

"tough luck, mate." Ron said, let's all go upstairs just for a moment.

"By all you do mean-""just the four of us, dear." He said squeezing Hermoine's shoulder in what he thought to be a reassuring gesture.

The four friends went up the stairs one at a time at spaced intervals so as to not draw too much attention. Some would say they were being overly cautious but considering the world they grew up in… it could never hurt to be overly cautious, which is why the girls were making such a big deal of what Luna had said.

When they had all gathered at the top of the stairs, Ginny explained to Harry and Ron what Luna had said and the dark tone in which she had said it.

"You know Luna though," Ron laughed. "Always so…believing," the way his face twisted you could all but see that he know 'believing' wasn't the proper word for what he was trying to say. Trusting? Naïve? No. These words hardly suited Luna, but from the outside looking in, there was definitely something off about her.

"That's what I thought too at first," Hermoine said. "But there was something different to the way she said this. Something, telling about the way she looked over her shoulder.


	2. Like We Used to

The upstairs aroma of the Leaky Cauldron triggered something in Harry's mind, enough to make him forget momentarily who he was and who he was with.

_He was sitting on the edge of one of the beds in the Inn, and there was a growling, biting noise emitting from underneath. It was a bit funny, Harry thought to himself. Here he was, the boy who lived…about to be eaten by a book! _

"Harry."

"Harry."

He felt someone tugging at his arm and her touch brought him back to reality. It was Ginny. Ron and Hermoine both stared at him a bit worriedly.

"You okay, mate?" Ron asked shaking his head.

"Don't worry guys, he does that sometimes. But I think it's okay. I think it's a bit healthy to tell you the truth," Ginny said. Of the four of them, Ginny was the one that would most fit in a muggle career, as a psychologist. But she had insisted on staying at home and being a proper mother and housewife.

Hermoine had of course protested saying something along the lines of, "but we've reached a time where we don't all have to be 'proper housewife's. You can do more with your life!"

But Ginny had quickly silenced her saying, "of course we don't all have to be them. It's just what I desire. I don't find anything wrong with that." The way she worded it could have come off as a snap, but Ginny wasn't one to snap or retort without good reason, and she had actually said this quite calmly.

"So what was it you two needed to tell us?" Harry asked.

"Well, Luna said-""Yes we know what Luna said already, Ginny. Sorry to interrupt," Ron said, "But why is it such a big deal. Do you two have any more information?"

"Well…" Here the girls exchanged a glance before Ginny finally said, "not exactly."

"What do you have exactly then?" Ron said, growing a bit frustrated even though he knew the girls were only trying to help.

"We have our gut feelings and if you haven't noticed, those are rarely wrong," Hermoine said finally snapping. "But if you two don't want to listen it's fine, we've defeated one dark lord I suppose we don't need a head start on the next."

She knew she was exaggerating and making bigger points than necessary but it was frustrating!

"Okay, tell you what. If or you know, when you find more information that would make this whole thing relevant and stoppable, let us know. In the meantime, I simply cannot justify standing around worrying about it. We've worried enough in our lives. Okay?" Harry said, diffusing the tension.

"Oi, there you are!" George said suddenly clapping Harry on the back. "Throwin' a party and not inviting the fun, how do you figure that's wise?" he plopped down on to the bed they'd all gathered with a laugh.

The four friends locked eyes, all silently communicating to not say a word about what they had originally come up here to discuss.

"We really just invited our class," Ginny said, "mostly only Gryiffindor's showed up from what I could figure."

"When was the last time you looked?" George asked.

"Harry and Hermoine went over to the staircase and peered down, George was right. There were many more people there than last they had seen.

"Who's the oaf at the bar by the way?" he asked in his usual mocking tone.

"Dunno," Ron said, "but he's got a bit of a temper. I don't reckon anyone like that would be related to Hannah for her to pass it on to."

"I don't think so either, but you know how she was after the divorce." George said whispering. "never quite the same. It's awful for both her and Neville because you know he meant no harm. He was just doing as he always does, selling himself short and settling for less. Not that Hannah Abbot wasn't a catch in her own respects, it's just that Luna was so much more so, to Neville at least. If you know what I mean."

For having never seriously dated anyone, George did seem to understand relationships and love quite well. So the group listened and nodded and wondered out loud at whom the Inn might belong to now.

Harry's heart felt odd as he watched the newest addition to the informal class reunion walk through the door. Draco Malfoy. Enemies throughout all of school, they had come to a bit of an agreement in what would have been Harry's seventh year, but never quite a friendship. It was hard to say what the two felt of each other. They seemed to neither want the other alive or dead.

But perhaps feuds and the like were from a time when Voldemort was attempting to reign. Perhaps the doors were opening on a friendship with the boy from his past, Harry thought.

For a brief moment he planned to indulge in this fantasy, but then he remembered all the reasons he hated Draco even before he knew he was a Death Eater. The boy was rude, and selfish, prejudice and racist. While it was true, Draco very well could've turned over a new leaf, Harry refused to give him a chance.

"What's wrong?" Ginny said, noting the way Harry gripped the banister until his knuckles were white.

"Just old faces I hadn't hoped to see is all," Harry said brushing it off and standing.

"We've been hiding from our own party as long as I think is fair," Hermoine said suddenly. "We invited them all here, isn't it time we go and join them?"

She didn't wait for an answer before she was headed down the stairs. The awkward know-it-all from their early school days was gone and in her place stood a beautiful, confident, brilliant woman who knew how to make someone's entire face light up.

"Isn't she something?" Ron whispered to Harry before going down as well.

Harry, Ginny, and George stood at the top of the stairs watching their two best friends wind their way through the crowed.

When the music started, Ginny refused to stand still any more. "Oh, we must dance!" she cried happily, pulling Harry by the arm.

George smiled and watched them go, thoughts of his school days playing in his mind.

_The dance was beautiful, and everyone had been preparing for weeks. The girls had fixed their hair and the boys had done the best they could to find well fitted suits for the occasion. The girls lined one wall and the boys lined the other, as is typical at any young dance. But George and Fred were not to be found on either wall, because they were under the punch table. "Tell me when," Fred whispered as George kept watch. If the planned prank hadn't been so funny, George might have felt bad that the first person to come to the table was Neville. After all, that kid had enough bad luck as it were, without he and Fred tormenting him. But that's not something present in a fifth year's mind, and so when Neville got close and poured himself a drink, George nodded to Fred and Fred whispered the spell, pointing his wand at the cup. _

_The potion the twins had already mixed in counteracted with the spell as had been the plan and the drink erupted into a purple paste which covered Neville and immediately thickened. _

_Neville coughed and spluttered and stepped backwards, straight into the open arms of the girl who was dancing alone. _

_George and Fred were still howling with laughter even as they were sent to Dumbledore's office, and their smiles were so contagious that even the headmaster found it humorous. _

The best part of school for George was definitely Fred, and without Fred, the makeshift reunion felt entirely empty. Not wanting to bring anyone's mood down, he left quietly a bit later.

"Stop worrying," Hermoine whispered to Ron, noting the way his brow furrowed. "You're right okay, it's probably nothing. What Luna said? We're just being paranoid because of what we've been through. We'll be fine," she said leaning up and planting a kiss on his cheek.

Ron looked over her shoulder instead of at her and said, "I certainly hope you're right.


End file.
